I’ve spent years curating a collection of Mac bash aliases and shortcuts to make my life easier. My full .bash_profile is below, feel free to take whatever you find useful and put it to good use.
A (VERY) QUICK PRIMER ON .BASH_PROFILE FOR MAC USERS
There is a hidden file in your Mac’s user directory named .bash_profile. This file is loaded before Terminal loads your shell environment and contains all the startup configuration and preferences for your command line interface. Within it you can change your terminal promt, change the colors of text, add aliases to functions you use all the time, and so much more.
This file is often called a ‘dot file’ because the ‘.’ at the beginning of it’s name makes it invisible in the Mac Finder. You can view all invisible files in the Terminal by typing ls -al in any directory.
HOW TO EDIT YOUR .BASH_PROFILE
For the newly initiated, here’s how you can edit the .bash_profile on your Mac.
Step 1: Fire up Terminal.app
Step 2: Type nano .bash_profile – This command will open the .bash_profile document (or create it if it doesn’t already exist) in the easiest to use text editor in Terminal – Nano.
Step 3: Now you can make a simple change to the file. Paste these lines of code to change your Terminal prompt.
export PS1="___________________ | \w @ \h (\u) \n| => "
export PS2="| => " Step 4: Now save your changes by typing ctrl +o Hit return to save. Then exit Nano by typing ctrl+x
Step 5: Now we need to *activate your changes. Type source .bash_profile and watch your prompt change.
MY .BASH_PROFILE
I have been compiling my own set of aliases and configurations for years in which time I have borrowed copiously from others who have made their aliases available online. I can claim credit for very little of what follows. I recently became aware ofalias.sh, a site making sharing BASH aliases easy. Check it out.
Update: Due to popular demand, my bash profile is now available as a Gist for your forking pleasure.
Without further ado, here is my .bash_profile:
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Description: This file holds all my BASH configurations and aliases
#
# Sections: # 1. Environment Configuration # 2. Make Terminal Better (remapping defaults and adding functionality) # 3. File and Folder Management # 4. Searching # 5. Process Management # 6. Networking # 7. System Operations & Information # 8. Web Development # 9. Reminders & Notes # # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # ------------------------------- # 1. ENVIRONMENT CONFIGURATION # ------------------------------- # Change Prompt # ------------------------------------------------------------ export PS1="________________________________________________________________________________\n| \w @ \h (\u) \n| => " export PS2="| => " # Set Paths # ------------------------------------------------------------ export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin/" export PATH="/usr/local/git/bin:/sw/bin/:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:$PATH" # Set Default Editor (change 'Nano' to the editor of your choice) # ------------------------------------------------------------ export EDITOR=/usr/bin/nano # Set default blocksize for ls, df, du # from this: http://hints.macworld.com/comment.php?mode=view&cid=24491 # ------------------------------------------------------------ export BLOCKSIZE=1k # Add color to terminal # (this is all commented out as I use Mac Terminal Profiles) # from http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/21/add-color-to-the-terminal-in-mac-os-x/ # ------------------------------------------------------------ # export CLICOLOR=1 # export LSCOLORS=ExFxBxDxCxegedabagacad # ----------------------------- # 2. MAKE TERMINAL BETTER # ----------------------------- alias cp='cp -iv' # Preferred 'cp' implementation alias mv='mv -iv' # Preferred 'mv' implementation alias mkdir='mkdir -pv' # Preferred 'mkdir' implementation alias ll='ls -FGlAhp' # Preferred 'ls' implementation alias less='less -FSRXc' # Preferred 'less' implementation cd() { builtin cd "$@"; ll; } # Always list directory contents upon 'cd' alias cd..='cd ../' # Go back 1 directory level (for fast typers) alias ..='cd ../' # Go back 1 directory level alias ...='cd ../../' # Go back 2 directory levels alias .3='cd ../../../' # Go back 3 directory levels alias .4='cd ../../../../' # Go back 4 directory levels alias .5='cd ../../../../../' # Go back 5 directory levels alias .6='cd ../../../../../../' # Go back 6 directory levels alias edit='subl' # edit: Opens any file in sublime editor alias f='open -a Finder ./' # f: Opens current directory in MacOS Finder alias ~="cd ~" # ~: Go Home alias c='clear' # c: Clear terminal display alias which='type -all' # which: Find executables alias path='echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n}' # path: Echo all executable Paths alias show_options='shopt' # Show_options: display bash options settings alias fix_stty='stty sane' # fix_stty: Restore terminal settings when screwed up alias cic='set completion-ignore-case On' # cic: Make tab-completion case-insensitive mcd () { mkdir -p "$1" && cd "$1"; } # mcd: Makes new Dir and jumps inside trash () { command mv "$@" ~/.Trash ; } # trash: Moves a file to the MacOS trash ql () { qlmanage -p "$*" >& /dev/null; } # ql: Opens any file in MacOS Quicklook Preview alias DT='tee ~/Desktop/terminalOut.txt' # DT: Pipe content to file on MacOS Desktop # lr: Full Recursive Directory Listing # ------------------------------------------ alias lr='ls -R | grep ":$" | sed -e '\''s/:$//'\'' -e '\''s/[^-][^\/]*\//--/g'\'' -e '\''s/^/ /'\'' -e '\''s/-/|/'\'' | less' # mans: Search manpage given in agument '1' for term given in argument '2' (case insensitive) # displays paginated result with colored search terms and two lines surrounding each hit. Example: mans mplayer codec # -------------------------------------------------------------------- mans () { man $1 | grep -iC2 --color=always $2 | less } # showa: to remind yourself of an alias (given some part of it) # ------------------------------------------------------------ showa () { /usr/bin/grep --color=always -i -a1 $@ ~/Library/init/bash/aliases.bash | grep -v '^\s*$' | less -FSRXc ; } # ------------------------------- # 3. FILE AND FOLDER MANAGEMENT # ------------------------------- zipf ()